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The Openinsider MCP server costs 3,257 tokens before the first call.

Connect Openinsider and its 16 tool definitions are loaded into the model's context on every request — 1.6% of a 200k window spent before your agent does anything.

QUICK ANSWER The Openinsider MCP server's tool definitions consume 3,257 tokens — around the median MCP server (1,905 tokens). A scoped grant exposing only the tools you use cuts that roughly in proportion.

MEASURED FROM SCHEMAS 16 tools · 3,257 tokens · 1.6% of 200k · 0.3% of 1M Method →

What that buys before your agent starts working.

Tool definitions are overhead: they occupy context on every request and compete with your code, documents and conversation history for the same window.

200K WINDOW 1.6%
1M WINDOW 0.3%

Corpus context: Openinsider ranks #1261 of 3,213 measured MCP servers by definition cost. The median is 1,905 tokens, p90 is 7,952, and the heaviest (Fusionauth) is 183,337 — 92% of a 200k window on its own.

Where the 3,257 tokens go.

Each row is one tool definition as a tools/list entry — name, description and input schema — counted with o200k_base. Average: 204 tokens per tool.

ToolCategoryTokens% of server
get_quote Read 335 10.3%
recent_sec_filings Read 328 10.1%
dilution_filings Destructive 318 9.8%
activist_filings Read 314 9.6%
short_interest Read 307 9.4%
late_filings Read 272 8.4%
failures_to_deliver Read 268 8.2%
screen Execute 247 7.6%
daily_short_volume Read 235 7.2%
search_by_insider Read 117 3.6%
search_by_ticker Read 112 3.4%
latest_trades Read 105 3.2%
top_buys Read 79 2.4%
top_sells Read 78 2.4%
officer_buys Read 73 2.2%
cluster_buys Read 69 2.1%

Most agents use a handful of these tools. They pay for all 16.

A PolicyLayer grant exposes only the tools you allow — ungranted definitions are filtered out of the tool list, so they never enter the context window. Estimates below assume typical-weight tools (204 tokens each).

Grant scopeDefinition costReduction
All 16 tools (no gateway) 3,257 tokens
3 granted tools ~611 tokens −81%
5 granted tools ~1,018 tokens −69%
10 granted tools ~2,036 tokens −38%

Openinsider token-cost questions.

How many tokens does the Openinsider MCP server use?+

Its 16 tool definitions total 3,257 tokens — 1.6% of a 200k context window — measured with tiktoken o200k_base over the serialised tools/list payload. Exact counts vary slightly by client and model.

Why does Openinsider consume tokens before I send a message?+

MCP clients load every connected server's tool definitions — name, description, and input schema — into the model's context so it knows what it can call. That payload is charged against your context window on every request, whether or not a tool is used.

How do I reduce Openinsider's token usage?+

Expose fewer tools. A PolicyLayer grant scopes Openinsider to only the tools you allow — ungranted definitions are filtered out of the tool list, so they never enter the context window. A grant of 3 typical tools costs roughly 611 tokens, a 81% reduction.

Does deferred tool loading fix this?+

Partially, in some clients. Claude Code defers MCP tool schemas behind a tool-search step by default, and VS Code has experimental grouping — but you still pay tokens per search and reload, and Cursor, Windsurf and Gemini CLI load definitions upfront. Reducing the exposed tool set cuts the cost in every client.

How these numbers were measured.

01
Serialisation

Each tool is serialised as a tools/list entry — name, description, input schema — from the schemas in the PolicyLayer scan database. Clients differ slightly in framing, so treat counts as close estimates.

02
Tokeniser

tiktoken o200k_base (GPT-4o/o-series). Anthropic's current tokeniser isn't published, so Claude's exact counts will differ; for English text and JSON schemas the totals are close enough to treat these as estimates.

03
Deferred loading

Some clients now defer schema loading (Claude Code's tool search; VS Code experimental grouping). You still pay per search and reload — and Cursor, Windsurf and Gemini CLI load everything upfront.

Computed 07-06-2026 from the PolicyLayer scan database over all 16 catalogued Openinsider tools. Counts refresh with every site build.

Expose only the tools you use — the rest never enter your context.

A PolicyLayer grant scopes Openinsider to the tools you actually allow. Ungranted definitions never load, and every call that does run is checked against policy first.

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4,600+ MCP servers and 31,000+ tools scanned and risk-classified.

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